inspiration for a life outside

Guidelines for Great Muesli

Years ago, while staying near the Roosevelt Lodge in Yellowstone with my mom and sister, I fell in love with oatmeal. The lodge served these enormous bowls of Montana Milling Oatmeal with fresh blueberries, brown sugar, walnuts, and a small pitcher of milk on the side. It was marvelous. Prior to indulging in this heavenly breakfast, to me “oatmeal” had meant those packet of instant, just-add-water oats that required a ton of brown sugar to be edible, and didn’t leave you feeling full. But Yellowstone changed all of that. We hiked every day during that trip, and I was often full and happy for hours after indulging in that massive bowl of oats.

Now, some fifteen years later, I eat oatmeal almost daily when camping. When I was in Alaska, we ate oatmeal 7 out of 10 mornings, and it was different every time, and I loved it. Oatmeal is, as far as I’m concerned, the best part about waking up early. Coffee is a close second – but delicious oatmeal? Nothing compares.

That is, nothing compared, until I discovered muesli.

When I first heard of muesli, I thought, “There’s no way this hippie cereal will replace my love of oatmeal.” I was wrong. Muesli is part oatmeal, part granola, and 100% delicious. If you’ve tried overnight oats, then muesli may sound familiar – but it’s essentially a combination of raw rolled or flaked grains, nuts, and dried fruit, served cold with milk or yogurt or warm with hot water and honey.

The thing that makes muesli so fantastic for backpacking and camping is its versatility. You can eat it cold, you can eat it warm, you can cook it, and yes, you can soak it overnight. A quick search online will bring up tons of suggestions for how to make and eat muesli, because it really isn’t an exact science, and you’ll have to play around with what works best for you.

But to get you started, below is my favorite recipe for muesli. The recipe below makes six cups – roughly six servings – but can be easily modified for just one serving, if you want to test it out. While plain old oatmeal still has a special place in my heart, muesli is now my camping and hiking breakfast of choice.